Cheri Bustos was born in Springfield, Illinois, to a family with a long tradition of public service—Cheri’s grandfather and father both worked in government, and her mother was a teacher. From a young age, she learned about the importance of working for her community. After college, Cheri spent almost two decades as a reporter before working in nonprofit community health systems before, during, and after the passage of the Affordable Care Act. She started her career in government on the East Moline City Council in 2007. In 2012, Cheri mounted a successful campaign to represent Illinois’s 17th District in Congress.

During her tenure in office, Congresswoman Bustos has been instrumental in passing meaningful gun safety legislation. She has voted for critical bills like the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, and she has put pressure on Senate Republicans to bring those bills to a vote. As Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, she is also working to increase the gun safety majority in Congress by helping elect more gun safety champions across the country.

We are proud to endorse Cheri Bustos for the US House of Representatives in 2020.